Kindred in Christ,

I hope you are enjoying the welcome of the autumn season as much as I am. The changing of the leaves and the brilliant fall colors filling our Seattle landscapes invite us to pause and remember the beauty and sacredness of creation. Fall always feels like a season of homecoming. Our children return to school, our summer travels come to an end, our church attendance increases, and we fall back into the rhythms that give us grounding and a sense stability. And as we gather the harvest of the season, we are also re-invited into a sense of grounded-ness in our mother earth.

As a follower of Jesus, I find it significant that in some beautiful and mysterious way, Christ became human, and shared something in common with all creation. With the plant, Christ shares life, with the animals, Christ shares sensation, with the stone Christ shares substance, and on and on. Christ reveals our own human interconnection and interdependence with all the earth, if we have eyes to see it, and hearts to embrace it.

As we continue in our autumn series, For the Beauty of the Earth, may we make time for connecting with our sibling creation and remember that we cannot ignore the world and still try to love God. Rather, we must love God through, in, with, and, even because of this world. For this is how God’s love comes to us through the incarnate Christ.

And to help open our hearts fuller to the beauty and mystery of the season, I invite you to meditate on the prayer below by Mirabai Starr, from her book St. Francis: Brother of Creation (Contemplations & Living Wisdom):

Dear God,


You created the world


to serve our needs


and to lead us to you. 

Through our own unconsciousness


we have lost the beautiful relationship


we once had with the rest of creation. 

Help us to see


that by restoring our relationship with you


we will also renew our connection
with all your creation. 

Give us the grace to see


all animals as gifts from you


and to treat them with respect,


for they are your creation. 

We pray for all animals


who are suffering


as a result of our neglect. 

May the order you originally established


be once again restored


to the whole world. . .

Amen.

Alongside you,

Rev. Paul Ortiz

Kindred in Christ,

I find it significant that Jesus’ parables and teachings seem to be based on human, animal, and nature observations, and not classroom theology. If we pay attention in the gospel accounts, Jesus is inviting us to focus on the wildflowers, the red sky, a hen, the fig tree, a donkey caught in a pit, the birds of the air, the grass in the field, the temple animals he released from their cages, and on and on. He carefully reflects upon the seemingly “nonreligious” natural world and invites us to encounter God in the beauty of the earth. It also appears that Jesus did most of his ministry outdoors.

During the coming of the autumn season, as the leaves begin to collect on the ground in stunning purple and orange colors, I find it easier to be mindful of Jesus’ invitation to pause and notice creation, and to remember that everything created is a reflection of God. This invitation helps me move away from seeing nature as secular or merely functional, which has created much of the loneliness and seeming meaninglessness in our modern world.

Join us this coming Sunday as we start our new series For the Beauty of the Earth. We will reflect further on the type of spirituality Jesus offers, which is not dependent upon a belief system or religious affiliation, and almost entirely upon our capacity for simple presence and encounter with God in creation.

Alongside you,

Rev. Paul Ortiz

Kindred in Christ,

This past week was a bittersweet Sunday, as we celebrated Joey Chin’s time with us and sent him forth to Wesley Seminary in Washington D.C.! Thanks to all those that contributed to the celebration with their time, talent, and cooking skills! It was a meaningful time of worship and fellowship. I personally felt proud of Joey as he preached his first sermon, and I also felt proud of all of us for being a community that brings new people in, nurtures them, and then sends them out into the world to make a difference!

We are currently in a series titled, Thresholds: Moving Through Life’s Transitions. Together we have reflected on the many thresholds in our lives as individuals and in our congregational life as a collective, and the unique ways God shows up on those liminal spaces. Joey continued this theme by reflecting on the threshold he now finds himself in, leaving Seattle and starting at Wesley Seminary. He helped us further reflect on our own journey as a community. And I really appreciated the following quote he mentioned during his sermon:

“What if the promised land isn’t actually the destination? What if it’s not pearly gates or permanent occupation or safety or a place where everyone knows your name? What if home was always going to be the walking and who you were walking with. …This is what Jesus invites us into, this is the peace that God offers, not the lack of tension but a recognition of the tension. There is no sound that comes from the guitar unless there is tension on the strings.” – Dr. Brian Bantum

May we continue to journey forward with one another, embracing the tension and changes along the way. And may we recognize that we are already home whenever we are on the move together in God.

Alongside you,

Rev. Paul Ortiz

Kindred in Christ,

When my child was three years old, they were really into saying catch phrases. They would say them to me, and to others on the street. But they often said them wrong! For Example, when someone would do something nice for them, like give them candy, they would lean in and say, “your welcome!”. And I would tell them, “First you say, ‘thank you,’ and the other person is supposed to says, ‘you’re welcome’! But they would get a mischievous look on their face, laugh, and continue to say it their way anyhow.  They’ve always liked to break the rules.

They apparently had also heard of the expressions, “How do you like them apples?” and “Try this on for size.” But instead of saying either of those, they would tell people, “Try them apples on for size!”.

Again, I would tell them, “That doesn’t make any sense. It is either one or the other. It can’t be both at the same time.” And again, they would laugh and continue to say it their way anyhow.

I imagine that the crowds felt a similar frustration when hearing Jesus proclaim that he was both the Good Shepherd and the Gateway (John 10:1-11). How can Jesus be both our guide, and the threshold we passthrough into something new at the same time? It doesn’t make sense. It must be one or the other, the crowds must have thought to themselves.

Yet, I imagine Jesus chuckling at the crowd’s initial confusion, and continuing to invite them, and us today, to experience God as both-and, and see how that might transform our spiritual lives. Jesus invites us to “try them apples on for size” and see what happens.

We are beginning a series this week titled Thresholds: Moving Though Life’s Transitions. We will explore how God is not only with us though life’s many changes, but how God’s healing and activity in our lives often shows up as some kind of movement from one stage to the next.

I look forward to exploring this further with you in-person, and online, as we continue to move through our own thresholds as a community, and encounter God and one another in fresh new ways.

Alongside you,

Rev. Paul Ortiz

Kindred in Christ,

This past week, the Merger Exploration Team met for the first time (see above). As you may know, this is a team composed of a committee from Green Lake UMC and a committee from U Gathering UMC, which will explore a possible shared missional future for both communities, and will lead us in that discernment and all-community discussions (see below for more info). While we recognize that we are unsure if an official merger will work out, we are excited to open ourselves up to where the Spirit may lead. Pictured above from GLUMC: Sue Wolf, Pastor Willie Deuel, Dave Goddard, and Ross Wolf, and from UGUMC: Jemina Marasigan, Graham Whitehouse, Sharon Fisher, Larry Erickson, and Pastor Paul Ortiz. Not pictured, but also in attendance was Erica Mattingly (UGUMC), Clara Pang (GLUMC), and Heather Teegarden (GLUMC). 
Oftentimes as individuals and as a church we are tempted to wait and not act until we have every possible outcome figured out in our heads. This might grant us a sense of security. And while it is good to make informed decisions, there is also the danger of becoming stagnant because we are waiting for the perfect moment to act, which may never come. Indeed, this is the story of many declining congregations that refuse to change or try something new. I am proud that we are a community that continues to step out in faith, and discern together where God may be leading next. At our meeting we shared the dreams of the past and how that might fit into our evolving future as we build further relationships and seek to continue our mission to our surrounding neighborhoods. And that stepping out into the unknown, and being open to seeking God’s guidance in community, is what faith feels like in our lives.

Our Wesleyan/Methodist tradition has always insisted that faith and works go hand in hand. But often we think of those as two separate partners in tandem. But, as we will explore this Sunday, faith is the letting go of our need for certainty in our lives, our need to have it all figured out, which then frees us to step out and work for the common good in fresh ways that we might not have otherwise. I look forward to exploring this way of being with you in person or online as we conclude our series, Means of Grace.

Alongside you,

Rev. Paul Ortiz